The Belt Line

Brandon Belt has a huge problem. He's the Giants savior at 1st base without a safety-net. I understand the stat-heads who cry every time he's sat down for batting like a 12 year old against major league pitching. "He takes walks!" I get it. His OPB can't be ignored... it is tantalizing. But he has a problem in pressure situations. He can't get the fucking bat off his shoulder to protect the inside half of the plate. He either takes the pitch or swings and misses. If a lefty hangs one over the outside part of the plate he'll crush it. This is against type which is the problem that stat heads have when evaluating him. If he fouled off more inside pitches he'd get a better selection to choose from. The Giants brain trust seem to be all batting average and power numbers. You can blame Barry Bonds for that mind-set, but it doesn't change the fact that a batter needs to create a situation that gives him the pitch that he wants. Belt allows pitchers to dictate what he does. He'll eat up a pitcher who disrespects him or decides to pitch what he wants opponent be damned. But a major league pitcher will pitch to his weakness and allow a weak single, or strike-out to get to the weak underbelly of the Giants offense. Allow a hit to a guy who can crush it, or pitch a double-play to the chump behind him and finish it? I'll walk him all the fucking time! He needs to be a THREAT to be valuable. That means not allowing a walk or a weak single on the inside pitch but flipping it foul and saying "I'M NOT LETTING YOU DICTATE A WALK OR A K! I'M FUCKING HITTING THIS THING!"